'Summer Breeze' Challenge

"...in every lovely summer's day I'll always think of you - Sarah"

2.5" x 3.5"

Mixed-media - hybrid digital collage, glass, gel pen

'I'll be seeing you in all the familiar places

that this heart of mine embraces...

in a chestnut tree or a wishing well...

in every lovely summer's day

I'll always think of you...

I'll find you...' 

- lyrics of a Sarah Vaughn song

Ingredients:

Kimberly's digital sketch, my scanned original photos,

my scanned vintage ephemera,

my scanned custom flower embellishment,

glitter glue, gel pen, digital software products.

Howdy and welcome.

This is my entry into Kimberly's Summer Breeze challenge. The original line drawing of the lovely lass is done by Kimberly. Then I altered the drawing with my custom digital artwork and scrapbooking embellishments. Altering this image was fun - and challenging!

All the patterns and background are my original creations from my original digital scans of vintage ephemera and from my original photos. (I prefer to work with my own art and not have to worry about copyright issues. Using my own work is so much more fun, too.) I worked back and forth between Microsoft Digital Image Editor and Photoshop Elements (PSE). Many layers, lighting effects, contrast, saturation, gradients and levels of transparency were used.

After I got all the frames, patterns and backgrounds the way I liked, a heart was added. Then lyrics were added from a Sarah Vaughn song I'd been listing to on my iPod while waiting at the car repair shop. Her gaze seemed to echo the song's mood perfectly. That was serendipity.

After printing the digital image on photo paper, I sealed it with soft gel  medium gloss (Golden) and let dry overnight. Next day, I added glitter glue (Stickles)  to her hair, to her bangles and 3 dots on the left, then added dots of red gel pen to the heart and strands of hair.  Then let dry overnight.

Following day, I scanned the embellished image and changed the image size to standard ATC dimensions. Next I created a digital flower brush in PSE using a scan of a flower embellishment I'd constructed ages ago for scrapbooking. I applied the digital flower brush three times on the right, applying a shadow to each of the 3 digital flowers, and applied gradients on each flower, too! 

Signed it and submitted to the challenge. Then I went on vacation!

Later, I may post some step-by-step images of my process.

Don't you just love the pattern in her dress? It's made from a Photoshop brush I whipped up. Have you tried to create any digital brushes? Have you used any store-bought brushes from digital kits? What do you think of these patterns and backgrounds?

Thanks for stopping by - and I'd love for you to come back again!

Peace,

LuLu 

Zabe - Shy Beauty Challenge

'Monsieur, I'm a shy girl - Zabe'

Digitial collage

3.5" x 4"

Here's a lovely fraulein, Zabe, that I created for the So Artful Challenge.

She was created using 2 digital imaging software products - Microsoft Digital Image editor and Photoshop Elements (PSE). The young lady was scanned from a vintage photo found in an antique store. 6 other photos were added using masking, layers, transparencies and playing with contrast and saturation. Approx. 3 hours.

What do you think of her? Have you tried using digital image editing software yet? I LOVE playing on the computer to create digital art! Thanks for visiting - and please stop by again.

Mina - Waiting

Please click image to enlarge - the detail is luscious!
"Waiting for my Ship to Come In - Mina"

Digital Collage for Challenge

3.5" x 5"

Howdy and Welcome,

My entry for a challenge from Art Creations Friday.

This image was created using Microsoft Digital Image Editor, PSE (Photoshop Elements), masking, layers, gradients, transparencies. 5 original photos and scans + the most lovely lady, whom I named, 'Mina' (component provided from challenge). Approx 2 hours.

Seems like Mina is a daydreamer, waiting for her ship to arrive from far off ports - loaded with exotic spices, luxurious textiles of silks and brocades, and ancient caskets overflowing with jewels the colors of the rainbow.

What do you think of the colors? Doesn't she have the most intriguing eyes?

Here's an overview of how I created 'Mina'.

Original image - 1 (from challenge)

 masking selected using 'magic wand'

Layers added of my original artwork into selected areas and background, with many levels of transparency

c copyright 2010 mlh1

Then I added a found frame, more backgrounds of found ephemera, added gradients and more levels of tranparencies. Final image ready for text

Thanks for stopping by - and don't forget to comment.

Peace,

LuLu

Atlas - carrying the weight of the world

"Carrying the weight of The World"

Original Digital Collage

3.5" x 5"

This digital collage was entered in Three Muses challenge. It was created using two image editing software products - Microsoft Digital Image Editor and PSE (Photoshop Elements). Created going back and forth between the 2 programs using 5 images (scans of vintage photo frame, vintage map, sheet music, animation registration grid, an old earring), lots of layers, masking, transparency settings, contrast, saturation, lighting effects, and gradient transparent colors. (approx. 2 hours)

Listen to Papa

"Listen to Papa and pay him respect"

original mixed-media art

2.5" x 4.25"

This is an altered antique cabinet card found in a gorgeous Victorian photo album. Fun and challenging. The card took about 8 hours - doing a little bit every night over 4 days.

This is an experiment to study altering the antique cabinet cards. Used a lot of media on this card.

Started by creating a mask of the central image - by outlining the figure with graphite pencil on tracing paper, 'fussy' cutting it out, and adhering double-sided removable tape to the back. Adhering the mask over onto the card, and then painting many layers of various acrylic colors between layers of soft gel gloss medium (Golden) and matte medium (I like Liquitex). A little tissue paper stamped with dye ink was adhered with diluted matte medium. Then I used a couple of gel pens, found objects, Stickles, embossing fluid, black chalk pencil, brads and a great Zig Painty pen in white to add lettering.

The way it turned out looks good!

What do you think of this guy? Have you ever altered cabinet cards?